Ichthyosis is an inherited disease that affects the American Bulldog breed. It is characterised by the presence of dishevelled coat hair shortly after birth, generalized scaling, and sticky brown scales with reddening of the abdominal skin.

A dog can be either clear (N/N), Carrier (N / ICH) or affected (ICH/ICH). Due to the recessive mode of inheritance only Affected (ICH/ICH) dogs will exhibit symptoms of the disease. Clear and Carriers will not display any symptoms, however, carriers can pass the mutation to their offspring and therefore carriers must only be bred to clear dogs to avoid having affected puppies.

A DNA test is now available from Laboklin and can help you to identify if your dog carry the mutation.